Toys At This Turf Always Seem To Surf Into Top 10

June 8, 1986|By Cheryl Gordon of the Sentinel Staff

One half hour later and not one lemon had come to mind. We had been brainstorming in the back room at Ron Jon Surf Shop. The great minds could rattle off 10 hot-selling sports items but they were hard-pressed to come up with a real bonafide shelf-sitter.

Surfboards, sailboards, Jetskis, Kadima paddleball sets, skateboards, snorkel equipment, beach bikes, water skis, goggles and Skurfer water ski surfboards are the top 10 best sellers in the history of Ron Jon's toy department.

I would have guessed the Hacky-sacks, my personal favorite after strolling the overstuffed aisles, would have worked their way into the top 10.

''I can tell you a number of women's clothing lines that bombed out but there isn't a sports item I know of that hasn't sold,'' Ron Jon advertising exec Laura Pryor offered.

Pryor, 24, should know the turf. She started working in the Ron Jon toy department when she was 9, putting together ball-bearing skateboards, back before precision bearings revolutionized that industry. That was four years after the Ron Jon empire, as we know it today, moved into its present location.

Ron Jon has been a part of Cocoa Beach and Cocoa Beach a part of Ron Jon since 1963, when the first shop, riding on that big surfboard wave, opened its door on Canaveral Pier.

From 1964-67 surfboards were the biggest item at the shop's second residence on Third Street. The inventory, which kept growing and growing relocated to its present address soon after, filling 3,000 square feet of floor and ceiling space. Surfboards still are hot. In December, when all the construction is completed, Ron Jon will have 33,000 square feet of space to stuff with merchandise. Making the place even more intimidating and awesome to the newcomer.

Ron Jon claims to be ''one of a kind.'' Anyone who has wandered through its doors or has been directed into a parking space by a walkie-talkie-armed beach lad on the weekend will tell you it really is. Maybe rightfully so.

But when you're one of a kind that doesn't mean you have only one of something. It means you have hundreds of FRISBEES and parts to garnish the most state-of-the-art belly boards. You also have the connections to get whatever it is someone wants.

That's how Ron Jon stocks its shelves so successfully.

''The kids who work here suggest a lot of the merchandise,'' Pryor said. ''We encourage them to come up with ideas. That's been part of our secret to success. We don't go by the book the way other stores do. We let the kids even work on displaying the items.''

The kids helped Ron Jon do $7.2 million in business last year from both sides of the cash register.

Since 1977 Ron Jon has also made a nationwide attempt to scout out what the competition is doing. Trips to other establishments, especially those to California where most of the trends in beach sports still are set, are frequent. Pryor said they also are very aware of other merchandisers dropping by in trench coats and dark sunglasses to see ''how Ron Jon is doing it.''

If you went out to the beach and took away all the toys you would see what life would be like if a store like Ron Jon hadn't been here. Recently, Ron Jon brought the wave ski, a hot selling cross between a kayak and surfboard in Australia and South Africa, to the states.

If you can do it on the water Ron Jon will supply you. They have added AMF Trac 16 catamaran, and people with the expertise to sail it, to help folks do it bigger. Their impact is also there on land.

''We've just started adding to our backpacking line because of a renewed interest in camping,'' said Frank Frankenbach, the store's equipment director. ''We haven't had any requests for mountain climbing equipment but we're heading that way.''

You want it. They'll get it. They say if it's a volume item no one will be able to touch their low price. Some customers will dispute this but they will buy the item at Ron Jon just to say they bought it there.

The only item the store claims exclusively is its T-shirts. It's the only garb they sell that turns up more frequently than the billboards that blanket Florida's highways pointing the way to this beachy emporium.

Pryor claims the reason for Ron Jon growing at an annual 25 to 30 percent rate is the attitude.

''We're trying to maintain a healthy image, a surfing image,'' said Pryor, who is partial to Jetskis. ''We don't take in trashy items or merchandise that pertain to liquor or drugs. As long as you supply people with fun, they will seek it out.''

It's fun just to bop around the store listening to the surf reports. But don't waste your time looking for lemons.